


Sniffles & Snuggles

by writerstrash



Series: Raising Peter: Superfamily Oneshots [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, M/M, Parenthood, Superfamily, Superhusbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-19 09:05:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17598332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerstrash/pseuds/writerstrash





	Sniffles & Snuggles

Steve always woke up before Tony, and today had been no different. The soldier had his own morning routine to pass the time before Tony opened his eyes, letting him rest a while longer before they started their days. Quietly sliding out of the bed, Steve headed toward the bathroom and tugged off his shorts to step into the shower. Peter always slept until around eight, which gave Steve time to go on his morning run and be back, showered and ready to start breakfast for his son. 

But this morning was different. As the soldier padded back into the bedroom dressed in his workout gear, he heard grumbling from the baby monitor by Tony's nightstand. It sounded like little groans of pain, followed by sniffles and eventually a cough. Then, just as Steve expected, Peter was crying. 

"Shh, I've got him," Steve assured, settling Tony when he saw his husband shifting beneath the covers. "Go back to sleep."

It was only 6:15, neither of them were used to Peter waking up this early, and Tony just rolled over and buried himself in Steve's pillows as the other man wandered out of the room. Steve's heart almost broke at the sight he was met with in Peter's room. The toddler was stood up in his crib, tears running down his face and arms stretched out in front of him, desperately wanting to be picked up.

Steve hurried over, pulling his son into his arms and feeling his head lay down to rest on his shoulder. His little hands were clutching at Steve's shirt with all of his strength, obviously not wanting to be put back in his crib. 

"Hey baby, what's wrong?" Steve asked softly, gently patting the boy's back. "You don't feel too good, do you? No, you don't sound good."

Peter whimpered, sniffling again. Steve could hear how congested he was, and the little cough that followed didn't sound too pleasant either. 

"Papa," he cried, voice quiet and weak. "No feel good,"

"No, I know sweetie," Steve soothed, pressing a kiss to his temple. "It's okay, we can make it all better."

"All better?" he asked, hopeful.

"We sure can. First, we need some medicine, okay Pete? Then we can have a nice, warm bubble bath to help clear you out."

Peter nodded sadly against Steve's shoulder and the man hugged his son tighter, wishing he could take all of his pain and suffering away. Peter had never been sick before, at least not like this. He had sniffles before and a sore tummy more than once, but this was mixture of things that would make the toddler uncomfortable and pained, and Steve hated having to go through it.

The little boy clung to his father as they walked out of his room, making their way into Steve and Tony's bedroom to rifle through the medicine cabinet. They didn't have too much, but they did happen to stock up on children's medication in case anything like this ever happened. Steve didn't get sick anymore and even when Tony did rarely catch the cold, he wouldn't even bother with medication before it would pass. 

"Do you want to lay with daddy while I find the medicine?" Steve asked, pressing another kiss to Peter's warm forehead as the little boy nodded.

Tony was only just waking up when Steve moved over to their bed, peeking his eyes open and noticing Peter standing beside him in Steve's arms. He looked sad, and Tony immediately sat up and reached for him, pulling him against his bare chest and hugging him tight. Peter burrowed into Tony's embrace, squishing his face into his father's neck and letting out another whimper and a heartbreaking cry.

"Petey, what's wrong?" Tony worried.

"I think he's got a bit of a cold," Steve explained. "I'm going to find some medicine for him. Can you get him ready for a bath?"

"Mm, a bath sounds nice, doesn't it Peter Pan?" Tony cooed, trying to lift his son's spirits. "With bubbles and buckets and duckies,"

"You have bath too?" Peter asked softly, pulling up to look at him closely. "We share?"

"I'd love to," Tony nodded with a smile. "You know I love bubble baths,"

"Okay," Peter sighed, falling back into Tony's shoulder.

The man squeezed his son tight, feeling his heart ache at the sound of his little boy's coughs. Peter slowly wrapped his arms around Tony's neck, burying his face away from the morning light creeping in through the windows. Tony ran a hand over his back, soothing him and pressing kisses to the top of his head. A few minutes passed before Steve emerged from the bathroom with a small bottle of Tylenol before heading out to the kitchen and making Peter a sippy cup of juice to wash it down. 

Peter had only ever taken the medicine once before and it was a less than pleasant experience, but Steve and Tony tried to make it calm and reassuring instead of making it out to be a big deal for their son. The flavour was horrible, but Steve hoped the juice this time would help get it down. 

"Okay buddy, time for medicine," Steve announced as he walked over, taking a seat on the side of the bed.

Tony propped the little boy up in his lap, turning him so his back could lean against his father's stomach, wrapping his arms around him for comfort. Peter made a face at the small plastic cup Steve held out, a small amount of thick liquid swimming at the bottom. 

"And then your favourite juice," Steve added. "Are you ready?"

"Y'gonna count papa?" Peter asked in a raspy voice. 

"I sure will," Steve assured. 

Tony took the cup from his husband and held it in front of Peter, the little boy wrapping his hand around his father's and staring at the medicine. Tony pulled the cup closer, readying himself for a possible spit-up as soon as the medicine hit Peter's lips.

"Okay. Three, two, one, down we go," Steve announced with a small, gentle smile.

Peter braced himself as the cup was lifted and the medicine poured into his mouth. He whined at the taste, shaking his head and desperately wanting to spit it out. But his body reacted for him before he had the chance, swallowing it down. The boy started crying after that, pushing himself back into Tony's arms. 

"It's okay Pete, you did so well baby, it's all gone! What a good boy!" Tony praised. "Let's have some juice, huh? Get rid of that nasty taste. Daddy and papa don't like medicine either, you're so brave."

Steve handed the boy his sippy cup and watched him gulp down the juice, reaching over to steady it as Peter took a deep breath. With his nose blocked up, he was finding it hard to drink for too long and breathing through just his mouth was causing him to go into a fit of coughing. Then he would groan and sob, his whole body feeling achy and tired all at once. 

Tony carried the boy into the bathroom once Steve had the water running, making sure it wasn't too hot for his sensitive skin, and stood there watching the bubbles form. That, at least, brought a little smile to Peter's lips. Steve took a handful of them, blowing them out around the bathroom and onto Peter's cheeks. A tiny giggle rattled through Peter's chest as he was set down onto the warm tiles to be undressed. 

Peter didn't mind taking a bath on his own. Usually Steve or Tony would sit on beside him and watch him swim around and play with his toys for a good twenty minutes before they actually washed him. But today Peter was clingy, and considering how weak he seemed, his parents were more than happy for one of them to be in with him.

Tony climbed in first, sitting down in the deep water surrounded by bubbles before Steve lowered Peter down into the water slowly, letting him rest in front of Tony to get used to the water. It took a few minutes before the steamy bath unclogged Peter's nose and he took a deep breath in, pleased.

"Nose all better papa," Peter explained, unaware of the fact it was temporary.

His eyes were droopy and tired, but Steve couldn't help smile at how pleased his son sounded that he felt better. But he knew once he was out of the bath, it was all going to hit him again. Hopefully he would go down for a nap before it hit him too hard.

"Do you want your ducky while daddy washes your hair? We can't be in the bath too long this time, okay?"

Peter, surprisingly, didn't protest. Instead he just nodded his head and accepted the yellow toy, letting it float around in front of him and distract him long enough for Tony to lather up his hair and scrub it nice and clean. Although he had a bath the night before, getting the warm water all over his body would decongest him even more, if only for a little while.

"I wash daddy?" Peter asked, turning to his father.

One of his favourite things to do when in the bath was lather up Tony's beard and play with the bubbles on his father's chin. It made him squeal with laughter whenever Tony would blow them back at him. 

"Go for it, Petey," Tony grinned.

It took another ten minutes to get Peter out of the bath and wrapped in a fluffy towel. The little boy was barely awake now, and Steve laid him down on their bed to change him into his pyjamas. By the time he was dressed, Peter was asleep.

"I hate seeing him like this," Tony sighed, leaning into Steve.

"I know," Steve hugged him. "I hate it too. But every kid gets a cold now and then, he'll get through it."

A few moments passed before Steve leaned down to pull sleeping Peter into his arms, and the boy nestled into his embrace and let out a soft whine before falling right back to sleep. But kids were smarter than they seemed, even when asleep. Peter could tell they were walking back to his room, and he immediately began crying as they walked through his doorway. 

"Shh, shh, you're okay," Steve assured, whispering by his ear and pressed a kiss to his temple.

"No papa," he whimpered. "I wanna stay."

"You want to stay in our bed, huh?" 

Peter nodded sadly against Steve's neck, and Tony's heart almost broke there and then. 

"Of course you can baby," Tony assured. "You and me can take a nice, cuddly nap while papa makes the soup you love."

Steve gave him a small roll of the eyes.

"What? You make it better! I don't know the recipe-"

"It's fine," he sighed, chuckling. "I would actually love for him to eat something when he wakes up, and you didn't get much sleep."

Steve moved to hand over Peter, who went willingly into his other father's embrace. 

"Papa nap?" Peter asked.

"I'll be in soon baby, okay? You go nap with daddy,"

With a soft nod of his head, Peter was out like a light once again.

"We're lucky to have you," Tony whispered to Steve, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

Steve was smiling against his husbands lips, unable to stop the flutter in his stomach.

"Go, sleep, I'll be in later."

And when Steve finally did return to the bedroom, leaving Jarvis to monitor the soup warming on the stove, his heart almost burst. Peter was wrapped up in Tony's arms, cuddled in close to his chest, with his lips parted and drool seeping out onto Tony's shirt. But the genius was just as deep in his own slumber with his messy hair sticking in every direction. Steve quietly moved over, slipping under the covers gently and instructing Jarvis to close the blinds.

Tony had a movie playing in the background, The Incredibles, which was muted and flickering as the room went dark. Steve laid there for a moment just watching his two boys, unable to wipe the grin off his face. Even though Peter was sick, this had to be one of his most treasured moments. 

A few minutes later Peter began to fuss, rolling out of Tony's arms, and Steve was there to accept him into his arm.

"Shh, shh," he soothed. "Go back to sleep little man," 

At the sound of Steve's voice, Peter moved closer, scrunching his hands in Steve's shirt and latching onto his chest like a magnet. Steve wrapped him in his arms, feeling his warm body close, and listened as his soft breaths steadied out and he went back to sleep. The medicine was doing it's job, and it had knocked Peter for a loop.

But when he woke up he would have warm soup waiting for him, and they would stay in bed all day together, and they would make sure Peter was getting better. They would forget about the rest of the world, what needed to be done, meetings that needed to be attended, and they would be there for their son. 

So Peter was sick, but he had never been more loved in his life. 


End file.
